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Tim Pawlenty offers a stinging critique of GOP

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty criticized his party in an interview with Esquire magazine. Photo by Jay Premack/Bloomberg News

In the upcoming issue of Esquire magazine, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) offers a harsh rebuke of his own party's actions in recent years, arguing that the GOP "blew it" when they had the chance to govern the country.

"The marketplace measurement in politics is something called an election," said Pawlenty in a lengthy interview appearing in the magazine's March issue. "And in 2006 and 2008, the marketplace was telling the Republicans 'We prefer the products and services of your competitors.'"

Pawlenty, who is retiring this fall after his second term as governor of Minnesota to explore a run for president, ascribed the electoral defeats of Republicans in recent elections to "a whole bunch of corruption and personal scandals that weren't compatible with the principles it claimed to stand for."

Pawlenty's critique of his own party is one of the first attempts by a likely 2012 Republican presidential candidate to gain distance from the personalities and policies of the Bush Administration.

Party strategists have long acknowledged that the presidency of George W. Bush badly damaged the Republican brand in the eyes of voters, an admission that suggests any successful candidate in 2012 will have to make clear to the American people how he (or she) is different from Bush to have any chance of ousting President Obama.

The danger for Pawlenty -- and others like former Govs. Mitt Romney (Mass.), Mike Huckabee (Ark.) and Sarah Palin (Alaska) -- is that there remains a significant segment within the Republican base who still supports Bush and many of the policies he put into place. Those same conservatives have an outsized say in determining the presidential nominee of their party as they tend to be the most engaged and passionate voters.

Pawlenty's Esquire interview is the latest sign of the frenetic level of activity surrounding the low-profile governor as he seeks to get better known on the national stage.

to kdjkdj and other repubs who are having the pipe dream that by electing the right people we will 'return' to 'small' government. Lets see, when was the last time we had 'small' government. . . . 1778? Wake up friends, we will never have small government even just using Republican standards. What are the Republican sacred cows . . . unfettered military spending and any number of wars or other military action to 'protect our shores'; social security and medicare (which 99% of teapartiers are receiving); generous subsidies to all businesses small and large and oh, yes, lets do all this while at the same time cutting taxes for all people and corporations. Dear Republicans, what part of reality do you not understand?

Pawlenty is obviously positioning himself as a moderate outsider who can bring reform to a floundering party. Too bad he didn't speak up when it could have effected their governance and before running for president! This is a transparent pivot in order to garner independent and moderate GOP support. I do think that this is needed in the GOP if they are ever going to shed the no-nothing Palin wing of the party and mount a credible challenge in 2012. The GOP and their puppet-masters at Fox and talk radio no doubt will paint Pawlenty as a RINO and commence to attacking him.

Pawlenty is right about where the GOP went wrong....I just don't think he's the one to turn it all around...We'll have to wait and see....Read: Obama Tips his hand on Tax Increases...at....http://cooperscopy.blogspot.com/

zvelf wrote: "It's bizarre to see all the Obama bashing going on here when he helped save the country from what would have been a Great Depression that developed under Republican rule."
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As I recall from my studies of American History, the Great Depression came about under Republican rule. Why would it then be a surprise that the current economic malaise occurred under Republican Rule? Howard Taft was the beginning of the end of the true Republican Party in America, you know socially progressive, fiscally conservative. By the 1920s corporations had taken over the Republican Party and their so-called pro-business agenda lead to the policies that precipitated the Great Depression. Our economy and the world's economy has been decimated by the Reaganomics approach of the neo-conservatives in the Republican Party.

Reagan racked up record deficits defeating the "evil empire" which inevitably lead his successor, the moderate George H.W. Bush, to cut discretionary spending, cut overall defense spending, reduce the size of the military, close military bases, (the so-called 'peace dividend' presided over by none other than Dick Chenney) and finally to swallow hard and raise taxes, which of course made him a one-term President. His parting shot, following his failed election, was to strap the incoming Clinton administration with the Somali misadventure in the name of humanitarian action (after he totally ignored the Rwanda genocide situation).

This distraction kept Clinton from achieving health care reform and lead to Republican control of the legislature. However, despite this impediment Clinton served two terms and left office having wiped out the Reagan era deficit and creating a budget surplus.

Renter the Republicans with control of congress and they embroil the nation in two unpaid for wars, create an unfunded $700B new entitlement program, and create the perfect economic storm leading to the current massive recession. No, it was no accident that Republican control of the government almost repeated the Great Depression a la 2008.

Normally, at this stage, Obama would be looking for the next affirmative action program to go into - looking for another promotion to cover up the complete lack of accomplishment - or effort or anything.

Obama has never been in a position in which he had to make it work - in which things didn't go well, and he had to turn things around.

Instead, he always went on to the next affirmative action program.

Obama has become the poster child for getting rid of the affirmative action programs - they have not worked - we need to produce people with much more substance.

You are still spewing rhetoric. Just what promises hasn't President Obama kept? Details and Proof please. Otherwise you are just angry because he is not who you voted for and that doesn't change anything.

37thand0street wrote:
"I don't get how a party can ignore the economy for almost a year". Lie. President Obama has been working on the economy this year. For one thing the stimulus, the car industry, the banking industry, and healthcare. Healthcare is as much an economic issue as any of the others. And btw, America does want healthcare reform, just because Repugnuts convinced a few tea baggers to carry the rhetoric doesn't mean
the people can be fooled forever. No one believes that paying a 30% overhead to Insurance companies is preferable to the 4% we pay to the government (ie medicare).

"The truth is Obama is putting our national security at risk". How so?

And please don't use the FAUX news comment that we shouldn't mirandize terrorist. So where is your proof?

armpeg wrote: "overall Bush did an excellent job".
Really? What part of lying to embroil us in two unnecessary wars, exhausting our military, not funding the cost of those wars in the budget, bankrupting us, dishonoring our reputation with permission to torture and promoting hatred for us worldwide with his arrogance was excellent?

drivl:
A true Republican. Forget serious discussion of the issues, juvenile namecalling rhetoric will solve problems.
Bet you're a Sarah Palin groupie. You know the one that can see Russia from Alaska?

annie21 wrote:

"It would seem that Mr. Obama is not only out of control, but under the control of extremely dangerous people".

In the first place he is President Obama, not Mr. Obama. In the second place, unless you can prove what you are saying, you are lying. Proof, does not include some sick comment from Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh. It means really, PROOF, my dear.

There is too much push at political correctness - the Obama people are too ready to start crying racist for relatively innocent things.

So there is a backlash - a quiet sustained one.

Perhaps it will not show up in the polls - yea if a pollster asks someone, that person will say that they are not racist.

But what is the real situation ? The false charges of racism - the crazy leftists ready to call anyone a racist over a genuine policy discussion - has poisoned race relations. People are fed up with it.

The people on this blog may be some of the worst offenders - or rather representative of what is going on out there.

Another part - Obama has probably set partisan relations back significantly as well. The very idea of parading around saying that he was going to be bipartisan, and then conducting himself the way he has is utterly pathetic.

The American people see through all of this.

The polls we see may not reflect everything that is going on in America.

I don't know if Massachusetts is representative of the whole country or not - that part of New England may be unique.

Obama is doing a horrible job - that much is clear.

Filter out all the partisan leftists - and try to get a relatively objective take on how Obama is doing and his job performance is horrible.

Ironic, if Obama had passed the health care bill, Obama's standing would probably be worse. American does not want that bill - and now it is the symbol of how out-of-touch Obama is.

I don't get how one goes from Obama's platform in 2008 - to health care, round the clock, all the time.

I don't get how a party can ignore the economy for almost a year.

I don't know however the priority agenda in Washington has been odd at best - stupid at worst.

Obama is a disaster - and I don't see anything that will indicate that anything will get any better.

Normally, at this stage, Obama would be looking for the next affirmative action program to go into - looking for another promotion to cover up the complete lack of accomplishment - or effort or anything.

Obama has never been in a position in which he had to make it work - in which things didn't go well, and he had to turn things around.

Instead, he always went on to the next affirmative action program.

Obama has become the poster child for getting rid of the affirmative action programs - they have not worked - we need to produce people with much more substance.

We need to raise taxes on the wealthy and on large corporations - which are also very wealthy. It is time for them to become responsible citizens. For thirty years, they have shifted their civic responsibility on to the backs of their employees. Responsibility is NOT just for the poor and middle class. It is for everyone. Everyone - and corporations most of all - benefits from our transportation system, clean air, clean water, waste treatment, fire and police departments and civil emergency systems. Shall I continue to name the benefits of good government or do the conservatives get the point?

"Raising taxes" is not a four-letter word. It is necessary, now. Democrats have to raise taxes because the Republican administrations since Reagan have robbed the treasury for their buddies in the corporate sector and left office with nothing left but IOUs.

Frankly, I am sick to death of hearing about how terrible it is to run government well and hire talented people to do the job. Government is necessary. Look around the world at failed states and see for yourself. The wealthy take all in those countries, and we seem to be headed in the same direction.

BTW, I have no problem with individuals posting here, even the ones who are rude and vulgar. You are entitled to your opinions. My problem is with the leadership in the GOP who cynically manipulate all of us, because it serves their purpose to distract us from what they are doing with our collective wealth and well-being. How DARE they tell us that we cannot afford to look after our own welfare, so they can spend recklessly on war, tax breaks, corporate give-aways, and military gadgets.

Pawlenty's not groveling to the lowest common denominator of the party. Those who embarrass all other members in the party. He is speaking to a core set of values that make civil discourse between differing points of view possible and progressive.

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it'd be great if Pawlenty's criticisms were the real deal but I'm not buying it and neither should you. This is the same guy who was traipsing after Quitter Palin only weeks ago, stepping in the same cowglops she'd just stepped in, endorsing the worst the right has to offer, major nutjobs like Doug Greenteeth Hoffman in NY23.

I think he'll be groveling to Limbaugh before the week is out, and he'll be running another tack up the flagpole to see who salutes. This is not a moderate, not a man of reason or logic, Pawlenty is as bad as the rest of them. I view this latest tack as about as sincere as a Communist Dignity of Labor mural.

It's bizarre to see all the Obama bashing going on here when he helped save the country from what would have been a Great Depression that developed under Republican rule. All that national debt? Obama inherited most of it, and he's engaging in good economic policy by yes, deficit spending during a recession. Only people who have a fundamental misunderstanding of how economies work believe otherwise. Deficits are regrettable, but at the moment necessary unless you'd like the unemployment rate to go up another 5%. So now we have all these conservatives decrying Obama when they were silent while George W. Bush doubled the national debt and created a completely unfunded drug prescription entitlement that costs more than all of Obama's health care plan. We also have conservatives making fun of Obama's approval ratings, which actually are higher than Reagan and Clinton's were at this point in their presidencies. Obama's approval ratings are also about 20 points higher than Bush's at the end of his presidency. So in comparison, Obama is doing a lot better job than Dubya according to the public.

The Republican party is broken, and you have to give Gov Pawlenty "courage points" for speaking out about it.

What, you want some sleaze like Palin driving the bus? Palin and her anti-government goppers deserve to live in Somalia, not America.

Pawlenty's not groveling to the lowest common denominator of the party. Those who embarrass all other members in the party. He is speaking to a core set of values that make civil discourse between differing points of view possible and progressive.

I have heard many economists comment on Obama's handling of the financial crisis, including Warren Buffet, as well as Mark Zandi of Moody's, who served as McCain's economic advisor during the 2008 campaign. Those two, and others almost without exception, agree that stabilizing the financial system and putting a stimulus program in place was the right thing to do. Some say it wasn't enough, in fact. Economists also seem to agree that these goals, while running up the deficit, had to take precedence in the short run, or the economy would have totally tanked. They also agree (as do Obama and Bernanke) that as soon as the economy has turned around, the stimulus (with its spending) will have to be reined in in a careful way to avoid runaway inflation and curb the deficit in the long run.

All these diatribes against Obama's policies do not seem to be based what professional economists are saying.

We almost crashed and brought the whole world's economy down with us. Many economists around the world see that as a direct result of our unregulated financial system in the past decade. That's something we should never forget.

I have heard many economists comment on Obama's handling of the financial crisis, including Warren Buffet, as well as Mark Zandi of Moody's, who served as McCain's economic advisor during the 2008 campaign. Those two, and others almost without exception, agree that stabilizing the financial system and putting a stimulus program in place was the right thing to do. Some say it wasn't enough, in fact. Economists also seem to agree that these goals, while running up the deficit, had to take precedence in the short run, or the economy would have totally tanked. They also agree (as do Obama and Bernanke) that as soon as the economy has turned around, the stimulus (with its spending) will have to be reined in in a careful way to avoid runaway inflation and curb the deficit in the long run.

All these diatribes against Obama's policies do not seem to be based what professional economists are saying.

We almost crashed and brought the whole world's economy down with us. Many economists around the world see that as a direct result of our unregulated financial system in the past decade. That's something we should never forget.

I have heard many economists comment on Obama's handling of the financial crisis, including Warren Buffet, as well as Mark Zandi of Moody's, who served as McCain's economic advisor during the 2008 campaign. Those two, and others almost without exception, agree that stabilizing the financial system and putting a stimulus program in place was the right thing to do. Some say it wasn't enough, in fact. Economists also seem to agree that these goals, while running up the deficit, had to take precedence in the short run, or the economy would have totally tanked. They also agree (as do Obama and Bernanke) that as soon as the economy has turned around, the stimulus (with its spending) will have to be reined in in a careful way to avoid runaway inflation and curb the deficit in the long run.

All these diatribes against Obama's policies do not seem to be based what professional economists are saying.

We almost crashed and brought the whole world's economy down with us. Many economists around the world see that as a direct result of our unregulated financial system in the past decade. That's something we should never forget.

markypolo, I read the last vulgar line of your post, it makes you sound like a real jerk.
You can blame Obama all you want for America's debt problems, there's many people who haven't forgotten the unprecedented situation (or unprecedented since the Great Depression) that greeted him on Jan. 20, though an astonishing number of people do seem to have completely forgotten about that, and completely forgotten that more than a third of the stimulus program was tax cuts.
The concentration of wealth among the rich since 1980 is one place people should be looking at to reduce the budget deficit. The disparity between how the wealthy are doing and how many other people are doing has widened quite a lot in the current severe recession, the tax rates on the wealthy are not fair, given the burden our cutthroat economy places on so many, and they are not sustainable. I don't enjoy imposing taxes and I hate waste, but this is about a lot more than waste, it's about a ruined economy that Obama undeniably inherited and about taxes on the wealthy that seem high enough to many, but unfortunately aren't high enough.

Why be concerned about Obama in 2012? By then He will have TRIPLED the American Debt! The Democrats will do the only thing they know how. Blame the Republicans! As if Bush is spending all the money. It should be obvious by now what happens when we let Democrats run our Country. Many of you FOOLS think Bush was BIG government! Check what your 'buddy' Obama has done. Increased the size of Government over 30%! Before he is finished, it will DOUBLE in size. Democrats get your heads out off your ass.

The point most people have missed about George W. Bush is that his party base and conservative independents left him when they realized he had become a big government progressive and they were not able to differentiate him from most other politicians. The people of this country are primarily conservative in their daily lives. People want to see the government act in a similar way to the way they live.They want the gov't to only spend what they can afford on that which is most needed. The people are tired of the gov't spending and spending without any thought of how it will be paid. The recent economic woes have brought this ideal to the forefront as we have had to face these problems in our day to day lives. The leaders of the future who will get elected will be the ones who can show they can accomplish this. We are done with spending money we don't have and maybe never will have.

If this Governor Pawlenty can put the Republican Party back into its former honest and US serving self, away from the ideologues that have ruined the GOP and the US, both financially and reputationally, then the GOP I loved and respected would be back. Will decent people prevail after all?
It seems a herculean task but he has my vote, even just for saying what he says now.

Bush gave us unfunded Medicare Part D, massive small business regulation with Sarbanes-Oxley, Dept of Ed expansion with No Child Left Behind. He was about as conservative with the budget as Jimmy Carter. Republicans who fail to see the damage he did to the economy are being foolish.

At the same time, Obama is living proof of what Paul Tsongas' claim that "Democrats love employment, but they hate employers". This guy hates the idea of companies making money, and doesn't get that you can't get major job growth without large profits.

Bush spent money like the world's ending for no good reason, on wars of choice and to enrich the rich. Obama is spending to get us out of Bush's recession. Even if you were right about the amounts, to look only at the amounts is facile.

It is an indisputable fact that George Bush was not a good steward of the economy.He spent far to much money on to many things all the while fighting an unfounded war that combined to drain the Treasury and put the country deeply in debt. It is simply not truthful to deny this unassailable fact. Nonetheless the debt was still manageable at the time he left office. As fiscally irresponsible as Bush was the current President has succeeded in making him look like a skinflint.On the track he is moving,and there is no indication of change Obama will have spent more within the next eight months then George Bush ever did. Our new President will have spent more in his first twenty months in office than our past President did in an entire eight years. This my dear children,is simply not sustainable by any-body's calculations and will certainly result in cataclysmic short and long range damage to the American economy.What is most puzzling and of most concern is the fact that Mr. Obama's advisors,at least some if not all,most have explained this to him in a cold and rational way. And yet he appears not to care at all as he exhibits no intent or desire to retard his profligate governance.As I recognize President Obama as an intelligent man I am most concerned and perplexed by his intent to continue on this path to certain destruction for our country. I do not like the alternative conclusions I am left with and I hope that someone can offer me a logical explanation.

Sounds like some image consultant advised Governor Sleepyhead he'd be better off staking out a position of distinction to get headlines. CC rushes to oblige. Once he has people paying attention again watch him revert to form and mount the usual predictable attacks.

Tim Pawlenty should shut his mouth. Do-nothing republicans can start celebrating their stunning wins in 2010 right now, 10 months before the elections. With the Tea-Party wing of the do-nothings in full throttle blood hate against President Obama from day one, and with Sarah Palin as their leader, the do-nothings will win in a landslide in 2010.

Tim Pawlenty can take his lectures elsewhere. The do-nothings don't want to hear it. Now is a good time for class clowns like John Boehnor, Eric Cantor, Mitch McConnell and Jim DeMint. Shunning behavior toward the President in the same way that cadets shunned Henry Flipper at West Point, seems to be working for the do-nothings.

The do-nothings are riding tall in the saddle as they take their early victory laps for their stunning victories yet to come in the 2010 elections. Tim Pawlenty should put a sock in it.

Why have so many Americans, whether Democrat or Republican forgotten that the current recession was caused by Republican policies and actions over the last eight years, or that Obama and his administration have done about all they could have done to deal with the disaster they inherited? The current national financial and employment mess was full blown and deadly long before Obama won the election in the fall of 2008. Why are so many Americans so upset with Obama who had little or nothing to do with causing the current mess and who has done all he possibly could have done to meet these several crises, none of which he created and which he has met with outstanding competence and rapid and effective action? Are Americans really so naive as to suppose that financial mess that grew to gigantic proportions under Bush and his wildly cheering Republican cohorts should be corrected in a few months? Are my neighbors so foolish as to expect that the US financial system, the US unemployment crisis, and muslim extremism can be dealt with instantly simply by the waving wand of some magical fairy godmother wearing a tricorn hat dipping tea bags into Boston harbor?

O.M.G. A republican that actually speaks the truth. The Bush Adm. was the most corrupt Adm. ever in history and it is past time for the republican party to admit to the truth. I am sure Tim will pay a high price from the Greedy Old Party for this article. He will be reminded of Reagan's 11th commandment {Never speak evil of any fellow republican regardless of what he has done or said}. I pray that I will live long enough to see Bush and Cheney along with some others Hang for the crimes they committed while in office.

A pox on both their camps. We, the tax paying people must send a message and vote them all out.
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the battle cry from the dawn of Democracy but moving out one corrupt politico delivers that politico to the real money, corporate lobby and brings in a neophyte who gets let by the former member to how to git 'er done. No such thing as Mr. Smith goes to Washington. It is going to take a total devastation (it's coming) like they had in Europe to get to a point where the two main parties keep the radicals from both side at bay.

omarsblade-----Suggest you get a copy of NYTIMES 9/30/99 that PREDICTS the financial meltdown due to Clinton program requiring banks to finance subprime mortgages. Remember when Clinton said that banks could no longer "red line" questionable housing developments?

A New York Times/CBS News poll finds that 31% of Americans said the Bush administration is at fault for the current state of the economy while only 7% blame the Obama administration.

An additional 23% said Wall Street is to blame while 13% blame Congress.
_______________

While the president is showing signs of vulnerability on his handling of the economy — a majority of respondents say he has yet to offer a clear plan for creating jobs — Americans blame former President George W. Bush, Wall Street and Congress much more than they do Mr. Obama for the nation’s economic problems and the budget deficit, the poll found.

They credit Mr. Obama more than Republicans with making an effort at bipartisanship, and they back the White House’s policies on a variety of disputed issues, including allowing gay men and lesbians to serve openly in the military and repealing the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.

The poll suggests that both parties face a toxic environment as they prepare for the elections in November. Public disapproval of Congress is at a historic high, and huge numbers of Americans think Congress is beholden to special interests. Fewer than 1 in 10 Americans say members of Congress deserve re-election.

As the party in power, Democrats face a particular risk from any wave of voter discontent; unfavorable views of the Democratic Party are as high as they have been since the Republican takeover of Congress in 1994, though Republicans continue to register an even worse showing. The percentage of Americans who approve of Mr. Obama’s job performance, 46 percent, is as low as it has been since he took office.

Still, the poll suggests that Mr. Obama and his party have an opportunity to deflect the anger and anxiety if they can frame the election not as a referendum on the president and his party, but as a choice between them and a Republican approach that yielded results under Mr. Bush that much of the nation still blames for the country’s woes. That is what the White House has been trying to do since the beginning of the year.

For all the erosion in support for Mr. Obama, Americans say he better understands their needs and problems and has made more of an effort to be bipartisan than Congressional Republicans, the poll found.

Der God, will someone please tell Pawlenty that no grownup, especially one who hopes to be president, should insist on being called "T-Paw." He reminds me of George Costanza insisting he be called "T-Bone."

passonfirstdown, I have. Again, all they do is complain, complain, and complain some more while holding signs comparing Obama to Hitler and equating him to Socialism. They have no ideas or solutions to problems in the U.S.

Politicians of either party really understands what is happening in American!

For years we have watched our jobs being outsourced & in-sourced, aided and abide by the ruling Political elite!

On the low end Politicians have allowed the largest invasion of any Nation, at any time, by any means, as millions of Uneducated, Illegal Aliens pour across our borders in direct volition of our Constitution Article IV Section IV against invasion, the Rule of Law & their Oath of office.

The Democrat support the massive invasion because a large Uneducated, Prolific breeding, dependent welfare class translates into Democrat votes!

The Republicans because their paymaster in the Chamber of Commerce & Business love slave labor with the benefits like Medical, Schooling, Welfare & Incarceration, Section 8 housing etc. are passed on to the tax payers!

On the high end H1b program to take the engineering, software jobs etc. at low wages to increase business profits & the insane salaries & bonuses of the CEO,s & their cronies etc.

After years of seeing their jobs disappear & standard of living deteriorate people are frustrated & angry that no one in Washington really cares about working Americans or the future of this Nation! Meantime both parties spent and borrowed money like dunk sailors on shore leave sinking this Nation in debt beyond our ability to pay!

Obama promised Hope & Change so the voters kicked out a Elitist, Arrogant, Spendthrift Republican party that was wading in the swamp of corruption!

Now after one year of Democrat rule and total control most are realizing Obama sold them a bill of goods and the Democrats are even more Elitist, Arrogant, Big spending and the swamp of corruption & debt has now turned into a sea of debt & corruption with Acorn , Unions, Seiu, Wall street , Big banks & the tax funded Racist hate organization La Raza!

Both parties when they get total control & power get more corrupt, arrogant & worse than the British & King George that resulted in the American revolution and the shot heard around the world!

Now the good people of Mass. have fired another shot. If the Politicians of both parties still refuse to change and keep thinking they are Kings & we are their Serfs & they & the special interest they serve, know what is best, the next shots they hear may not be as peaceful.

It is way pass time the Politicians realize they are the servants & not our rulers and they exist to serve the American citizens & this Nation, not the special interest, not Mexico, not Latin American and every country in the world while ignoring and punishing Citizens by taxes, jobs and debt to support the rest of the world!

This is the model liberal democrat idiots follow. Policies that are cute in the beginning but self-destructive in the long run.

As little kids, gays are effeminate which many people find cute. As they grow into adults they become filthy coz they want sex with their kind.

Gays in the military seems cute now but filthy in the long run when gays will outnumber the shower rooms and generals having male boyfriends.

Socialist policies are cute now but filthy when the budget gets bloated in the long run.

The list goes on and this kind of CUTE BUT DESTRUCTIVE policy is inherent in liberal democrat idiots.

In fact the two wars we have now and the economic turmoil we're in are policies which can be traced far back to Bill Clinton's policies. The worst is still coming courtesy of Bill Clinton's CUTE BUT DESTRUCTIVE liberal democrat policies.

All their stupidity will culminate to an ultimate destruction of their cities.

There are republicans too who are idiots but nothing can match the stupidity of liberal dems. Even Rahm Emanuel called them RETARDED.

Correction...it was largely Tea Party people who ended up being excluded from many town halls last summer as union thugs began guarding the doors after early town halls were dominated by Tea Partiers. If Tea Party people were the only ones to talk at a given town hall, it's because they were the ones to show up, and, in fact, I recall a number of town hall speakers who were urging for passage of health care, too.

As for calling Obama socialist, I think this is because people know all too well what the definition of socialism is. Maybe Wikipedia isn't the greatest source in history, but for the easy sake of argument:

"Socialism refers to the various theories of economic organization advocating common or direct worker ownership and administration of the means of production and allocation of resources, and a society characterized by equal access to resources for all individuals with a method of compensation based on the amount of labor expended.

Most socialists share the view that capitalism unfairly concentrates power and wealth among a small segment of society that controls capital and derives its wealth through exploitation, creates an unequal society, does not provide equal opportunities for everyone to maximise their potential and does not utilise technology and resources to their maximum potential nor in the interests of the public."

Obama hasn't gone so far as to advocate direct worker ownership in our society yet, but his notions of social organization do emphasize equal access to resources for all individuals, and his policies are rooted in a critique of capitalism that seeks to strip power and wealth away from the rich in order to create a more equal distribution of resources in society. By definition, a tax that aims to redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor is socialist. A health plan that aims to give everyone the same access to care is socialist. Tea Party supporters are educated people, and they know what socialism is. You may want to call Obama's policies something else, but a rose by any other name....

@katiecellist, well, there is wisdom in the saying: "birds of a feather flock together." Look at Obama's associations, Bill Ayers, Van Jones, SEIU, ACORN, etc ... Yes, Obama is socialist but he has done a great job to hide that. The so-called main stream media thinks he is moderate. Look at his policies! They are to the very left of center. Obama is socialist and you calling name those of us who know that, will not change our minds. And look, we can express our views, can'tg we? You are expressing yours, I am expressing mine!

@katiecellist, well, there is wisdom in the saying: "birds of a feather flock together." Look at Obama's associations, Bill Ayers, Van Jones, SEIU, ACORN, etc ... Yes, Obama is socialist but he has done a great job to hide that. The so-called main stream media thinks he is moderate. Look at his policies! They are to the very left of center. Obama is socialist and you calling name those of us who know that, will not change our minds. And look, we can express our views, can'tg we? You are expressing yours, I am expressing mine!

It seems to me that the conservatives on this blog and elsewhere can do nothing except make ad hominem accusations; they refuse to believe the facts and have absolutely no solutions to the serious problems we face today. The Tea Party people are particularly reprehensible in that they scream and yell and carry signs that shouldn't even be allowed; no one else at those town hall meetings were allowed to speak. Where is their notion of democracy in which there are many different opinions allowed to be expressed? So many of their platforms are just barely disguised attempts to get their religious views put into laws. As long as the Rush Limbaughs, Glen Becks, Sean Hannitys, and Bill O'Reillys determine what direction the party takes, it will remain out of the mainstream Americans. Any one who accuses Obama of being a Socialist is either delusional or doesn't understand in the least what a Socialist is and stands for.

You know, I heard a small business owner say something today on C-Span that really made me pause and think. He was calling on the Republican line. He stated that he was a small business owner and he has laid off three people since President Obama was elected. The way he said that made me wonder if there were more "small business owners" who do not plan to hire people just because it would help lower the unemployment numbers and that might look good for the Democrats. I really wouldn't put it past greedy people to do something like that. I mean after all, we had eight years of tax cuts which were supposed to eventually provide jobs and well, that obviously never happened. Perhaps there are people out there that would continue to screw the American people just because they hate the President. I'm just sayin....

I find it interesting to hear Republicans/conservatives/right wing/Obama haters talk about the crash and burn of the Obama administration and the shape our country is in today , that our country is going in the wrong direction and just what a horrible job President Obama has done in his first year in office. Considering the shape our country was in on Jan. 20, 2009, when President Obama was sworn in and handed this mess are you people saying our country is in worse shape?

In the past year our economy has stabilized, major companies are no longer failing, banks are no longer failing a dozen a day, the auto industry has stabilized. While many people are still unemployed, job losses have slowed. There has even been some good news coming from the housing market. Now, don't get me wrong, the country has a long way to go but there is no way that anyone can say that our country is in worse shape now than before Jan. 20,09.

Some people are so determined to see President Obama fail, they will never give him credit for achieving anything. The idea that our country is in worse shape now than it was when President Obama took over is just plain ludicrous. So, you haters can continue with your negativity, doom and gloom, I'm sure it serves your purpose. I do know however that the country is improving slowly but surely and it is doing so under the watch of President Obama.

If one understands biblical prophecies, you'd be scratching your head why these idiots seem to be making guns shaped like the letter U.

While China has now a missile shield of their own and Russia has a new stealth fighter, the liberal democrat idiots want to scrap theirs. The idiots thought that Al Qaeda is the greater threat so they focus their military budgets on handguns.

MORE THAN 90% OF OBAMA'S CABINET HAVE NO PRIVATE SECTOR EXPERIENCE
Posted by: drivl
------------------------------------------
No wonder small business and individuals (non-O supporters) are left out of the loop of porkulus. We could have been experiencing a decent recovery by now, only limited by lib regulations to do nothing with the resources we have available.
Posted by: leapin | February 12, 2010 5:12 PM | Report abuse

It’s weird how you right wing “capitalist” guys talk about aid to small business and how Democrats do nothing but produce lip service towards and burdens upon small business. I had a friend several years back who went to work (as yet another political appointee of the Bush administration) for the SBA at the beginning of the Bush years and thru them as well. He’d complain to me constantly that they couldn’t get squat out of the Bush Administration. You would have thought Rs would have loved gov't programs that built business, albeit "small."

But in the end, it seems that they dealt with that the same way they dealt with “faith-based initiatives.” Lots of talk to make them think they shared sensibilities, but in the end, it was all lies and BS.

Republicans talk about business, but generally they mean big, really big, corporations. Someone who can help THEM, not the other way around. A leg up? Sorry, first you make it, and then we’ll talk to you if you can pay to play. Otherwise, take a hike.

And ironically, they'll tell you it’s a violation of the sanctity of the “free market” principle to help anyone, even if it is to create business (to hard core Rs, a "small business administration is not only a contradiction in terms, but philosophically unacceptable). how's that for shooting yourself in the foot?

And now Pawlenty is drinking from the same dry well as all these 19th century dinosaurs, while trying to seem different.

it wasn't scandals that brought the Rs down: it's a dead, outmoded rejected 19th century view of the world. and he shares it.

all the kings horses and all the kings men.this guy hinderd repair of the bridge repair in minneapolis according to the mayor of that city.he would have a hard time putting anything together even mr potato head. he like palin needs press time. we have to watch out for the quiet ones, those are the ones that will go to the front and lead.daniels of indiana is one of those.there are more.

I wonder if Republicans really think Obama has no chance of being re-elected two years from now. Two years ago, they were saying the same thing. The ferocity of Republican hatred for the President has a primordial source. We can only guess what that is.
Posted by: shrink2
-----------------------------------------
To find the primordial source go back to 1776. Repubs, Demos, Indies, whatever, it’s not their hatred for the president but hatred of tyranny.

"Conservatives are safe in America because of Reagan and Bush's missile defense shield policy. The liberal Democrats are in danger of being nuked because of Bill Clinton and Obama's foot dragging policy on missile defense shield.

In case of a nuke attack, the liberal coastal states are the most vulnerable.

A lot of conservative Americans should be grateful of Mr. Bush despite the imperfections. And those imperfections happen to be caused by liberal idiots."

this is a perfect example of the simple-minded suckers who call themselves repugs. the only thing they're good at is reality avoidance.

I wonder if Republicans really think Obama has no chance of being re-elected two years from now. Two years ago, they were saying the same thing. The ferocity of Republican hatred for the President has a primordial source. We can only guess what that is.

But there is good news for America, if two years from now the economy is on the right track and the lost Bush/Haliburton blood for oil war has not spread to a greater regional disaster. The American voter has shown no interest in extremists.

They have ignored Nader, all the bone fide Socialists and they will ignore the psychos (sorry, technical jargon) with racist signs and tea bags dangling from their hats. In fact, I'll be surprised if the TEA people still exist as anything but a peculiar memory two years from now.

Conservatives are safe in America because of Reagan and Bush's missile defense shield policy. The liberal Democrats are in danger of being nuked because of Bill Clinton and Obama's foot dragging policy on missile defense shield.

In case of a nuke attack, the liberal coastal states are the most vulnerable.

A lot of conservative Americans should be grateful of Mr. Bush despite the imperfections. And those imperfections happen to be caused by liberal idiots.

How in the world can there still be some Americans out there that support George W. Bush's policies and presidency? What does one have to do? Hit them in the head with a baseball bat? George W. Bush was the worst president in history. That is a fact and is NOT open to discussion. I know that all are entitled to vote but, frankly, perhaps one should consider a mental requirement, because surely, if an individual still thinks that Bush 2 did a good job, he or she has mental problems and should not be allowed to inflict their
POOR judgment on the rest of us.
Posted by: nyrunner101
-----------------------------------------
This is why the Jimah Carter family is so estactic! There are now not one, but two, guys that can supplant his place in history.

passonfirstdown, I'm just calling it like I see it. So far, no one from the Tea Party has come up with any way to fix the problems we have in our country. All they do is complain. Frankly, I'd be afraid if the Tea Party were left in charge. If you thought the Democrats and Republicans were corrupt, I'd hate to see how the Tea Party puts them to shame.

To The Liberals who love to lecture Republicans on what to do I say--please keep it up! Conservatives will crush the left wing extremist Liberal Democrat Party in November. The Liberal Dems closed minds just do not comprehend that most Conservatives gave up on the Republican Party--- because it left them. With McCain as the leader they lost--he is the equivalent to a Democrat moderate; not a Conservative.

We and all our Republican friends are proud Tea Party members. And, FYI, we are now more powerful than the left wing extremist Liberal Democrat Party.

You will find out in November when Tea Party members combine with Republicans and Independents. Why, because The Democrat Party is not a viable choice for any Conservative. Democrats do not have any members--not any- who proudly claim to be Conservative. That is theirchoice. Good! They are all moderates(Can't make up their minds)or left wing radicals --no Conservatives.

Americans lean Right Democrats are proud to be left wing extremists--bottom line--Dems lose!

How in the world can there still be some Americans out there that support George W. Bush's policies and presidency? What does one have to do? Hit them in the head with a baseball bat? George W. Bush was the worst president in history. That is a fact and is NOT open to discussion. I know that all are entitled to vote but, frankly, perhaps one should consider a mental requirement, because surely, if an individual still thinks that Bush 2 did a good job, he or she has mental problems and should not be allowed to inflict their
POOR judgment on the rest of us.

Give our country a chance. The majority voted for the Democratic Party candidate, when there was a mess in the country - wars, economic turmoil, etc.
Let's work together to bring the country back to prosperity, instead of trying to unseat the administration!!!

Did anyone actually click on the Esquire link and read the actual interview? The "stinging" comments about the GOP were not nearly as stinging as they could or should have been.

I didn't see Bush bashing in it. Rather Pawlenty was taking shots at the failure of the Party as a whole to deliver on their stated core values and pointing out that the voters punished it and its candidates for this.

Bush wasn't chasing teen age page boys, "taking a wide stance" in airport bathrooms, pulling in millions of dollars from defense contractors to vote their way, or voting for huge spending bills. The House and Senate Republicans did that. Bush could and should have tried to stop it, but he was not the only contributor to the mess. If the interview had touched on Iraq or Afghanistan, then maybe there could have been a chance to dis Bush, but that did not occur.

Pointing out that huge GOP losses were an indication that the voters weren't happy with their performance is not a unique or radical observation. Pawlenty seemed fairly politic in his criticisms. He didn't name the obvious names. He was smart not to. Everyone can fill in the names with their scapegoat of choice. By calling the GOP as a whole to account he is trying to exercise leadership of the Party. It would have been nice had Bush tried the same.

I was a bit disappointed that Pawlenty refused to rise to the bait and call Obama a Socialist when the interviewer gave him the chance twice. The Big O is one after all (squawks like a duck), but Pawlenty probably figured it would have created an opportunity for Wolf Blitzer or Chris Matthews to point out how the nasty Republicans have gotten into name calling and probably are racists to boot.

Posted by: drivl
------------------------------------------
No wonder small business and individuals (non-O supporters) are left out of the loop of porkulus. We could have been experiencing a decent recovery by now, only limited by lib regulations to do nothing with the resources we have available.

Remember that Eisenhower clinched the Republican nomination by promising to be the President who though he knew war would end the Korean War. Petraeus knows Afghanistan and Iraq -- though it seems hard to envision today could be the kind of leader promising to end those wars.

Posted by: drindl
------------------------------------------
Someone has to do it. It's not going to be Obama.

Posted by: leapin
==================================================================
Pretty mis-informed post. The CIC we now have does not make a move without following verbatim Jones, Mullen and Gates. The Hillary/Bill team on foreign policy makes Condi look like Sarah Palin. Granted Obama is no Bush41, but then again whom since FDR is? This is one area I give the president high marks.

annie21 - Your comments about President Obama ("now it appears we're truly dealing with a man who is owned and handled by others...It would seem that Mr. Obama is not only out of control, but under the control of extremely dangerous people")reflect exactly how I felt about President GW Bush. And I agree with you about Biden. And I felt the same about Cheney. I wanted Bush to leave, but I was more afraid of Cheney being in charge.

Pretty hard to take the Governor seriously, when he took three steps to the right from his positions of 3 years ago. He now has pivoted back left and like Obama talk is cheap. An economic team run by Goldman is not in America's interests. Keeping the tax breaks (like deferred taxes on foreign income) for overseas investment (S&P gets half it's income from overseas) and putting the foreign income into our GDP is folly. Jobs continue to be lost and then the jobless or reduced incomes have people losing their homes in record numbers. The Goldman agents have kept regional banks to such high capital reserve requirements, they can't lend, losing their investments (mortgages, store loans, etc.) going under in numbers that have zeroed out FDIC. Potter for sure is picking up bargains. There no longer exists a "Wonderful Life."

Unfortunately what the Gov. says and the article are generally true BUT what is down played is that the Dems have shot themselves in the foot so many times in the last 12 months they are bleeding voters left and right (pun intended).

The Administration thinks they were given cart blanche to convert a middle of the road government to an extreme left wing operation. Look at those named by BO to positions of power with favorable Maoist , Communist or Socialist declarations thru their careers.

The majority of the country is clearly opposed to Healthcare reform as written by the Senate or the House and now there is talk of a back room deal to impose reconciliation. Talk about stirring up a fire storm that will consumn their party. This will be a nuclear fire storm for the Dems!With the same end as I predict for the Republicans in the following paragraphs.

The country voted for open discussions of major bills so the Congress and the Admin. go behind closed doors and forced votes when it was patently obvious all but a handful had NOT had time to read the bill and the public was denied ANY input. Where are the C-Span broadcasts? Where are the 5 days for public review?

How does buying GM and saving the UAW's bacon with the words "I owe them" from BO mesh with the Constitution let alone integrity in government. I call it vote buying by BO.

How does 9,000 earmarks (pork) in the 1st stimulus bill for billions of $ let alone what will appear in the 2nd stand for integrity in Congress and with the President who promised a different government if elected? BO signed this theft of taxpayer dollars into law!

The independents are fed up along with the Republicans. Woe to the elected morons who want to continue business as usual. Be they Dems or Republicans. The independents will give the Republicans one more chance and if they foul it up, there will be no more Grand Old Party.It will open the door to a third party and the USA will truly pay the price!

Carter deregulated the banks, not Reagan, like a previous poster wrote. Had to get that off my chest before telling Libs what matters to Conservatives. It's not sexual scandals...unless the person GUSHES about it to the press. I don't care if two men have sex together as long as neither one is underage. What gets me mad is when you take my money. When you reject the Constitution thinking it out of date, or try to tell me what I can or can't do in my home or with my body. Get those things right, and you'll have support of a lot of people.

My, there are a lot of conservative trolls out today stressing Obama's middle name and using the socialist line. Isn't that what partially cost McCain and Palin the White House, along with other Republicans in the House and Senate?

MORE THAN 90% OF OBAMA'S CABINET HAVE NO PRIVATE SECTOR EXPERIENCE
In recalling President Obama's cabinet appointments, you'll notice that very few have had any private sector or business experience. To find out if this was a "change" from prior administrations, Michael Cembalest, Chief Investment Officer of JP Morgan Private Bank, did a study that examined the private sector experience of prior cabinet officials since 1900.
What he found in comparing Obama's cabinet to other prior administrations is striking, especially for a president who claims to be focused like a laser beam on "fixing the economy." Since small business generated 70% of net new jobs over the past decade, one would think that the president would want a significant percentage of his advisers to have real business experience (and I'm not classifying attorneys as small business owners!).
In a quest to see what frame of reference the administration might have on this issue, Mr. Cembalest looked back at the history of the Presidential Cabinet. Starting with the creation of the Secretary of Commerce back in 1900, he compiled the prior private-sector experience of all 432 cabinet members, focusing on those positions one would expect to participate in this discussion: Secretaries of State; Commerce; Treasury; Agriculture; Interior; Labor; Transportation; Energy; and Housing & Urban Development.
These results don't come as surprising, in that anyone who has followed the president knows that he is anti-business and pro-government. What's a bit surprising is the vast difference, when compared to both previous Republican and Democrat administrations.

When a corporation advertises a 'new' and 'improved' product with a brand name that sold as the 'best choice', something makes the customer suspicious when that best has ruined the domestic economy and foreign influence.
Voters are ready to remove all the old products of self interest, greed and incompetence from the shelves and seek an alternative to organized crime.

Here's the liberal press once again advising Republicans to reject conservative ideas and candidates. Thier tactic worked in the last election, and they gave us McCain.
We'll choose our own candidate next time, thank you.

==

damn right!

The LAST thing America needs us RINOs who listen to facts and acknowledge extra-ideological reality. We need solid hot-eyed conservatives with as little education as possible and who sneer at logic, guided only by gut feel and Reagan applause lines. THAT'LL get us back on track.

Do not believe anything Pawlenth or any other republican says--remember Bush was going to change Washington and cut back on spending with less government)(that's what every republican says)and we all know Bush lied he ran the largest deficit in history started two wars,ran through a 256 billion surplus in less than six months left by president Clinton. I'm a registered Independent, but as far as getting anything done the republicans are useless.Mitch McConnell and John Boehner think they are acting cute when they say NO to everything this administration tries to do but what they really do is make FOOLS of themselves.We need intelligent cool heads to helps us get out of the past 8 year disaster not a bunch of clouns like the republicans

'Republicans, who were keen on many of the tax provisions in the Baucus/Grassley bill, immediately cried foul, complaining that Reid was undermining economic recovery with his actions. Grassley spokeswoman Jill Kozeny said that Reid “pulled the rug out from work to build broad-based support for tax relief and other efforts to help the private sector recover from the economic crisis.”

But it’s funny that the GOP suddenly feels that the legislation is must-pass to boost an economic recovery considering that earlier in the week they said that it wouldn’t create a single job:

Kyl, a member of Finance, said he most definitely “would not call it a ‘jobs bill’,” though…“No, I dont call that a jobs bill,” Kyl said emphatically…”All of that has to be done, but it does not create one job.”

And even though they readily admitted that the bill was full of stuff “that has to be done,” Republicans were placing all sorts of conditions on their support, including unanimous consent to vote on a huge cut in the estate tax that would give billions in tax breaks to the heirs of wealthy families.'

'In your so called attempt to lecture me on being impartial you conveniently dismissed a lot of facts. 1) Reaganomics-Reagan exploded the debt and deregulated the banks which led to the collapse of the Savings and Loans which were a precursor to what happened to the financial sector during the George W. Bush years. The facts are that the only President that left office with a budget surplus was Bill Clinton a Democrat. The Republicans rant and rave about fiscal discipline only when the other Party is in power, witness Dick Cheney statement that deficits don't matter. The Republicans spend more money, it just does not go to programs that assist the american people it goes to military and government contractors and tax cuts that disproportianately benefit the wealthy. Are you stupid enough to not see that the Iraq War was built on knowingly trumped up charges, and the biggest beneficiary of the Iraq war was Haliburton, whose former CEO was Vice-President Cheney, they went from number 66 in the amount of Defense Contracts to number 1."

tchenn wrote:
Wow where is the impartial aspect of your comments. If Democrats like you want to blame the republicans for this mess they should take a couple of classes on economics and they would see that the republicans have consistently come in and made good economic decisions that take time to impact the economy and then the democrats try to take credit for that. It is sad that their are so many people that dont understand economics and can seriously believe this stuff. We can only pray for some Reaganomics again. As for Palin I do not think she is qualified to be president, but at least she has some morals that she believes in rather than swaying for every dollar or popular opinion (like Obama). Bush was a good president who made some good decisions in bad times and made a few not so good ones, but any bad decision he made is nothing compared to the joke we are living now with Obama in the Whitehouse.
___________________________________________

In your so called attempt to lecture me on being impartial you conveniently dismissed a lot of facts. 1) Reaganomics-Reagan exploded the debt and deregulated the banks which led to the collapse of the Savings and Loans which were a precursor to what happened to the financial sector during the George W. Bush years. The facts are that the only President that left office with a budget surplus was Bill Clinton a Democrat. The Republicans rant and rave about fiscal discipline only when the other Party is in power, witness Dick Cheney statement that deficits don't matter. The Republicans spend more money, it just does not go to programs that assist the american people it goes to military and government contractors and tax cuts that disproportianately benefit the wealthy. Are you stupid enough to not see that the Iraq War was built on knowingly trumped up charges, and the biggest beneficiary of the Iraq war was Haliburton, whose former CEO was Vice-President Cheney, they went from number 66 in the amount of Defense Contracts to number 1. Sarah Palin is so morally sound that she supported the Alaska Successionist Party as the sitting Governor of Alaska. She has never answered any questions about this, because in 16 months in the political limelight she has only given two soft ball interviews with Katie Couric and Charles Gibson and the rest were interview with Right Wing pundits. She also lied about denying the funds for the bridge to nowhere she kept the funds. She also is so morally upright that she left the Alaskan People that voted for her hanging, as she is cashing in millions from Republican demagogues who enjoy her childish, uninformed and uneducated rants. I challenge you to name one Republican Economic Program that has directly aided the American People. Pre-school, medicaid, social security all came from the Decocrats and the Republicans are the ones politicizing and taking credit for Medicaid and Social Security.

Good Grief, I love reading all of your expert ideas about how things should be fixed. Never mind that we have just nearly missed falling off a cliff into a huge black hole of depression. It has taken a whole host of intelligent and cautious actions on the part of this administration to save this economy and we aren't completely out of the woods yet. But you guys, each and every one of you know exactly how to fix it, and whose to blame for it. Why don't you all run for President and we can see how many votes you get.

Pawlenty is correct and also a sorry example of the GOP. The GOP has been crumbling since 2004 and will not recoup their losses in the mid-terms or 2012. The GOP never denounce the slander their 'conservative' members spout as gospel truth. Overall they lack leadership/morality/conscience/concern for the American taxpayers. They love to constantly play the victim card and also love crying to the TV cameras as to the many ways they've been wronged. They never stood up to the spending of their buddy Bush so no one should try to distance themselves from him now that we're facing severe economic times in this country. No one in the GOP ever spoke out or spoke up when they ruled the roost and our economy began to tank. Maybe they thought we wouldn't notice?? Huckabee, Romney and goodness knows Palin doesn't have what it takes to be Commander in Chief.....keep searching.

'Here's the liberal press once again advising Republicans to reject conservative ideas and candidates. Thier tactic worked in the last election, and they gave us McCain.
We'll choose our own candidate next time, thank you.'

gee, that's confusing. did you guys not have primaries, and votes and stuff? you mean you all stayed home and let newspaper reporters vote for you?

"how about posting nonstop on this blog the same tired tripe day after day, night after night until every poster runs away Ped?

you sink yourself with your own ignorant statements. no one even needs to dispute your stupidity. It is on clear display.

Now isn't the elementary school letting out in your neighborhood right about now? you better hurry or you'll be on this blog all night alone again, desperate for any attention from any right wing troll.

the degree of self loathing that it must take for you to "debate" your adversaries is stunning.

Posted by: drivl "

from the guy who has posted nonstop, probably 120 times on this blog today [anyone have a count -- BB?] starting this morning.

Here's the liberal press once again advising Republicans to reject conservative ideas and candidates. Thier tactic worked in the last election, and they gave us McCain.
We'll choose our own candidate next time, thank you.

PHOENIX – Defeated just two years ago as the Republican presidential candidate and with his bonafides as a true conservative again being challenged, John McCain finds himself in a struggle to get even his party's nomination for another term in the Senate. Conservatives, independents and Tea Party activists are lining up behind Republican challenger and former talk radio host J.D. Hayworth, reflecting a rising tide of voter frustration with incumbent politicians. Only 40 percent of Arizonans have a favorable view of McCain's job performance.

Strange interview...our country is facing an ever growing threat from extreme Islamic terrorist and not one word was mentioned about it.

Gov. Pawlenty seems to be a one tune politician...knocking Bush, Republicans, Obama, and the Democrats: a Monday-morning quarterback. He seems to think (his small town experience) that if he became president, growing up in south St. Paul will be of help to him, because of the dialogue he had with his unionized Democratic brothers and sisters.

After 2 more plus years of President Obama's handling of the terrorist threat, the days of the Bush years will be a welcomed sight. If Pawlenty thinks he will gain the White House on the back of President Bush's effort to keep our country safe (it is how we have President Obama now) he is badly mistaken.

President Obama has gone out of his way to be different than President Bush; now, Mr. Obama's plummet in job approval is at a new low.

As for taking classes in economics, I can't imagine a worse way to waste time.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

how about posting nonstop on this blog the same tired tripe day after day, night after night until every poster runs away Ped?

you sink yourself with your own ignorant statements. no one even needs to dispute your stupidity. It is on clear display.

Now isn't the elementary school letting out in your neighborhood right about now? you better hurry or you'll be on this blog all night alone again, desperate for any attention from any right wing troll.

the degree of self loathing that it must take for you to "debate" your adversaries is stunning.

The Republicans from Palin to Pawlenty have finally realized that they don't have much credibility putting Obama down over his budget busting policies and the ever-increasing size of the government, because what they have said is also applicable to George W Bush.
Granted that Bush's deficits were not as large as Obama's so far, but Bush inherited a surplus from Clinton while Obama inherited a huge deficit, two wars, and the biggest financial meltdown since 1929.

Wow, a Republican telling the truth. So refreshing. I thought I would never see the day. Republicans have gotten such a bad reputation though that it will take many more truth tellings and a long time before I would ever vote for one.

EarlC wrote:
Is this the same GOP governor who held the senate seat hostage for a very long time? Pawlenty is pleasant enough. However, he is no match for President Obama. In fact, the Republicans have no one that can match Obama's oratory, much less his intellect. You might say that Republicans are "all fired up" for no sound reasons. Tbey seem to be very passionate about their guns and religion, but this is the extent of it.

___________________________________________

This is so very correct, you see they can spout all kinds of lies and innuendo when he is not in the room, but as witnessed at the Republican Retreat, he will eat them for lunch head to head. That is why they are running like hell from a televised Health Summit, because they have nothing to say about anything but more tax cuts and deregulation which is what got us into this mess, and they know Obama will hand them their heads and make it glaringly obvious that these people after having ruined the nations economy have no solutions. That is why you see GOP shills like Joe Scarborough trying to dumb down the debate by saying this morning that Obama is too smart. The canary in the room is that the economy is slowly but surely gaining its' footing and jobless rate is beginning to tick downward. Now what message does the GOP have, but we screwed up the economy over 8 years and the other guy has not fixed it fast enough in one year.

The fat-cat republicans deserve a lot of credit. Once again in the health care debate they have managed to convince a lot of their camp followers to argue against their own self interest. That takes real talent. They have sold the idea that a health care system that takes roughly twice the proportion of the GNP that those in Canada and the the UK require, and that leaves our average citizen LESS HEALTHY is something to be preserved at all costs. How can you fault that sort of political skill?

However, his characterization of politics as a "market" is one of the underlying reasons the political arena is in such bad shape. BECAUSE politicians are acting as if they are "competing brands" instead of competing ideas, they treat politics like selling soap.

Re Chris Cillizza's quote "...any successful (Republican)candidate in 2012 will have to make clear to the American people how he (or she) is different from Bush to have any chance of ousting President Obama."

Likewise, any successful Democrat candidate in 2012 will have to make clear to the American people how he (or she) is different from Barrack Hussein Obama to have any chance of being elected President or being elected to any other public office, except in districts with substantial minority voters.

Re Chris Cillizza's quote "...any successful (Republican)candidate in 2012 will have to make clear to the American people how he (or she) is different from Bush to have any chance of ousting President Obama."

Likewise, any successful Democrat candidate in 2012 will have to make clear to the American people how he (or she) is different from Barrack Hussein Obama to have any chance of being elected President or being elected to any other public office, except in districts with substantial minority voters.

Mr. Pawlenty needs to tread carefully. President Bush may have made some policy errors but his integrity far outpaced his predecessor and our current president. We need to vote out all incumbents and push for the fair tax bill.

If Democrats like you want to blame the republicans for this mess they should take a couple of classes on economics and they would see that the republicans have consistently come in and made good economic decisions

==

uh, yeah

do you have any idea how staggeringly much evidence we have that this is complete BS?

As for taking classes in economics, I can't imagine a worse way to waste time. Econ is a pseudoscience at least a century away from being any use at all. Were it not for the Santa Fe school I'd say more
like a millennium.

It does have one virtue though... it keeps halfwits yammering about supply and demand and off the freeway overpasses.

As a law and order Republican I have no doubt Bush's greatest failure was giving up on the seach for Bin Laden when the trail was hot and diverting precious resources and our nation's prestige on the blunder in Iraq. Bush let Bin Laden get away and history will damn him for not bringing that thug to justice.

Whew, for awhile I was worried the Republican Civil War had fizzled (due to lack of interest) and their novel approach to the Big Tent, to take all comers just so long as they hate Obama, represented a stable nucleus for Republican identity.

Not so! Today here we see clear evidence, there are fundamental disagreements among self-identified conservatives as to the direction their party should take, or should have taken.

One might think Democrats would do well to exploit these differences, but they should not even try. It is all a distraction.

Democrats need to focus on the economy (and peace and healthcare and sustainability and all the other stuff that helps...the economy).

"The reason that the republicans lost in 06 and 08 is that they abandoned their conservative roots, in particular too much spending. "

this is the fantasy, the myth, the Big Lie, that republicans were *ever* "conservative. There are no 'roots.' they were never about 'small government', they were never about not spending -- they're the ones who bloated government on their watch.

sure, they're for lower taxes, but not lowered spending. so what they really stand for -- their actual 'roots' is free lunch, borrowing, big deficits and financial irresponsiblity.

Nice try. Your effort to make this interview a condemnation of Bush and Palin is rather curious. Pawlenty doesn't mention either of them. And when asked if he would've voted for Bush's medicare drug benefit, he answered in the affirmative.

If this guy is smart, he won't capitulate to the liberals and their press as McCain did. You see where that got him. The only reason we should reach out to the likes of Reid, Pelosi, Dodd, Boxer, Frank, et al, is to grab their throats.

The politicians in Washington are just beginning to see the whisps of smoke from the huge groundfire they've fed in the United States. More and more people, across the midwest and elsewhere, are fed up with the current members of the House and Senate.

The conclusion many people have made is that it's time to replace the incumbents, pure and simple. Regardless of the party they belong to. This is not a Tea Party momentum in development.

It's simply a reaction to the ineffective leadership the House and Senate display. Replace the incumbent, regardless of the party they belong to!

3 years ago and nothing has changed. I know I feel terrible. Clearly the lack of cash spent in the last year or so of Pawlenty's governance is what caused the bridge to collapse. Because bridges collapse due to a year or two of wear and tear, not decades of neglect.

If only this state had a history of high taxing, high spending DFLers in control of the budget purse, our bridges and other infrastructure would naturally be in great shape. I mean, 30-40 years of constant spending, it's not like that money would just go to waste. You would have seen results. But alas, it is our curse to live in a conservative ruled, tightfisted state.

Damn it, if only there were more Democrats in this state, we'd have the wonderful bridges we deserve. Well, at least we've had low taxes for the last 30-40 years, as an offset to poorly repaired roads and bridges.

missyjanek wrote:
Both houses are broken. This country is so busy placating non-producing citizens it's appalling. What ever happened to the land of opportunity? It became the land of entitlement.
It is high time to pull in the reins, cancel many of the entitlement programs, identify and harshly punish fraud and abuse and threats.
The AFL-CIO basically threatened the president yesterday with the 2010 elections because they don't have card check yet. Their pick for the LURB was stopped in his radical left wing tracks and they are not pleased.
We'll see if OHB has the courage to allow the Senate to be the balancing piece they were designed to be.
It's not the taxes, it's the spending. We, as citizens, must take control and turn back the crank.

___________________________________________

Cut the crap! Nowhere in the constitution will you find any provisions that call for 60 votes to cut off debate. Nor will you find it in the constution, that one Senator can block the nominees of the Executive Branch. The constution was designed for up or down votes with the exceptions that are enumerated in the constitution such as amending the constitution which requires a two thirds vote. The Senators basically bastardized the intent of the Constitution in their attempts to head off any and all Civil Rights legislation in the early part of the century. Do not try to make the philibuster rules into something noble.

The reason that the republicans lost in 06 and 08 is that they abandoned their conservative roots, in particular too much spending. That plus the financial meltdown that happened on Bush's watch was the final straw. There were other things that they did, contrary to the republican party core values, but it was the above mentioned issues that did them in.
We do tend to forget that after 2006, the dems were in power in the congress, not the republicans, but Bush should have vetoed and didn't. The deficit trend was downward from 2004 - 2007 (during the republican years) and up from 2008 on, the dems years. We also need to recognize that the financial meltdown was the fault of dem sponsored policies and the failure of the republicans to force the issues during the Bush years.
Nevertheless, the republicans need to go back to lower spending, smaller government, tax breaks and a stable tax policy, an energy policy including drilling now and development of alternative sources (nuclear, hybrids and/or natural gas for autos etc.) That will bring the country back to prosperity.

impartial1 wrote - This is why it is impossible to have a decent dialogue with you kool-aide drinking Republicans. You people talk and make statements that are completely devoid of facts. George Bush was handed a surplus by Bill Clintonand the Democrats in Congress urged him to use the Surplus to pay down on the debt. Instead he rammed a package of tax cuts skewered toward the rich, and used reconciliation. Bush with the help of Tony Blair decided to trump up charges against Saddam Hussein in order to avenge the attempted assasination of his father. An effort that cost us trillions of dollars and more, because we are still paying. He also decided to pass a prescription drug bill that was completely unfunded and cost us a half trillion dollars. Dick Cheney went on record in 2003 and stated that "Deficits don't matter", and you have the unmitigated gall to blame that on the Democrats. You sir are a first class idiot. Not to mention that constant push for deregulation by the GOP, allowed the banks to bet our 401's at the crap table and nearly bought down every economy in the world including our own. You are the kind of person who is so bigoted that he cannot see that the dumb and proud Sarah Palin, is a white affirmative action candidate. She is so dumb that the GOP marginalizes itself by even giving her a forum for her stupidity.

Wow where is the impartial aspect of your comments. If Democrats like you want to blame the republicans for this mess they should take a couple of classes on economics and they would see that the republicans have consistently come in and made good economic decisions that take time to impact the economy and then the democrats try to take credit for that. It is sad that their are so many people that dont understand economics and can seriously believe this stuff. We can only pray for some Reaganomics again. As for Palin I do not think she is qualified to be president, but at least she has some morals that she believes in rather than swaying for every dollar or popular opinion (like Obama). Bush was a good president who made some good decisions in bad times and made a few not so good ones, but any bad decision he made is nothing compared to the joke we are living now with Obama in the Whitehouse.

Remember that Eisenhower clinched the Republican nomination by promising to be the President who though he knew war would end the Korean War. Petraeus knows Afghanistan and Iraq -- though it seems hard to envision today could be the kind of leader promising to end those wars.

Posted by: drindl
------------------------------------------
Someone has to do it. It's not going to be Obama.

WHAT?!!! Pawlenty thinks the GOP got dusted in 2006 and 2008 because of "a whole bunch of corruption and personal scandals that weren't compatible with the principles it claimed to stand for."

Sorry, Gov. Your GOP 'principles' ran the country into the economic ditch BIG TIME and you (Bush) weren't doing anything to get us out! TARP wasn't exactly Bush's idea but it sure helped once the funds got distributed.

No, Tom. Once again, a Republican isn't owning up to the failure of the Bush Administration that had help from the GOP members of Congress. People know the mess we're in isn't Obama's fault - he didn't create this sea of thick mud he's trying to navigate. People sympathize with him on the efforts he is making... and yet, the GOP obstructs ANYTHING he proposes even if it sounds like a good idea.

THAT'S why the GOP isn't exactly in line for coronation come this fall. Time will tell, and if President Obama gets things going pretty good by then, you can kiss your... well, you know what you can kiss goodbye.

It wasn't President George W. Bush that "damaged the Republican Party", as the Democrap Socialist Party--controlled Main Stream Media (including Chris C. here) want to make people believe in order to help elect Democraps, it was the RINO Republicans who took control of congress, after Newt Gingrich left, who governed like Democrap Socialists.
We came into control of both houses of congress in 1994 because the American people believed in Newt's and the GOP's New Turks 'Contract with America', that promised to bring up for votes things we and most Americans believed in, including to balance the budget after 60 years of liberal tax-and-spend Democrap policies. Newt and the GOP New Turks kept their promise, and within 2 years we had a balanced budget, despite Bill Clinton's many vetoes (today Bill Clinton and the Democrap Socialists are claiming it as one of "their sucesse's", which is not true, just like Obama and Biden are now trying to claim that it was their policies in Iraq that made that country free, when in fact it was Bush's).
Newt Gingrich led the GOP to political power with his, and the GOP's New Turk's "Contract with America", by cleaning the Democrap Socialist's clock in 1994 by winning 54 House seats, and 8 Senate seats, and he can do it again. Newt Gingrich would do it again, especially with Obama's Communist policies tanking our economy the way it is, and with his Ronald Reagan-like principals.
Run, Newt, run!!!

Pawlenty has two chances, slim and none, of getting the republican nomination in 2012. He won't embrace the lunatic fringe of "Christian" bigots who are proud of their stupidity and call anyone with a three digit IQ an elitist. No, to get the republican nomination, you have to believe the world is flat, that dinosaurs roamed Alaska 6000 years ago, and that science is evil. Pawlenty fails on all counts.

impartial: save your breath. He's a Republican by his own admission, he's lying, hw knows he's lying, he thinks
lying is an acceptable strategy, he thinks that if he lies enough that people will believe him. And it's not working. Americans are not amnesiacs.

Honestly, I can't beleive it - if Republicans keep it up and Democrats slow down on bad behavior, in a couple of years Republicans will catch up with Democrats. Let's just hope none use the oval office for their pleasure, however.

A blogger Steve Clemons, recent met with General Petreus, and thinks he's the way out of the asylum/wilderness for Rs:

'[A]fter spending an evening with General Petraeus and watching him closely for a number of years, there is no way that this intelligent leader -- with whom I have some disagreements but respect -- could be comfortable with the Tea Party takeover of the Republican political machine.

There is always the possibility that a core of reasonable Republicans like Michael Bloomberg, James Baker, Olympia Snowe, Chuck Hagel, Alan Simpson, John Whitehead, Peter Peterson, Rita Hauser and others will try to rekindle classic Republican sensibilities by fighting to re-hijack their party back in an Eisenhower-like campaign with Petraeus at the lead. Remember that Eisenhower clinched the Republican nomination by promising to be the President who though he knew war would end the Korean War. Petraeus knows Afghanistan and Iraq -- though it seems hard to envision today could be the kind of leader promising to end those wars.

jCM-1 wrote:
I was, and am, a huge George W. Bush fan. Except for his last few months in office where he let the Democratic Congressional Majority sway him from his fiscal principles, I think he did a great job as President...certainly much better than the clown who took his place.
___________________________________________

This is why it is impossible to have a decent dialogue with you kool-aide drinking Republicans. You people talk and make statements that are completely devoid of facts. George Bush was handed a surplus by Bill Clintonand the Democrats in Congress urged him to use the Surplus to pay down on the debt. Instead he rammed a package of tax cuts skewered toward the rich, and used reconciliation. Bush with the help of Tony Blair decided to trump up charges against Saddam Hussein in order to avenge the attempted assasination of his father. An effort that cost us trillions of dollars and more, because we are still paying. He also decided to pass a prescription drug bill that was completely unfunded and cost us a half trillion dollars. Dick Cheney went on record in 2003 and stated that "Deficits don't matter", and you have the unmitigated gall to blame that on the Democrats. You sir are a first class idiot. Not to mention that constant push for deregulation by the GOP, allowed the banks to bet our 401's at the crap table and nearly bought down every economy in the world including our own. You are the kind of person who is so bigoted that he cannot see that the dumb and proud Sarah Palin, is a white affirmative action candidate. She is so dumb that the GOP marginalizes itself by even giving her a forum for her stupidity.

37thandOstreet said "Obama's approval rating on his handling of health care is at 36%...Obama's approval rating on the economy is 35%"

The public has been easily swayed by the misleading advertising campaigns waged against health care reform by groups who benefit from the status quo. That doesn't make the public right on the issue.

It's also clear that the public had unrealistic expectations about how long it would take to turn around an economy bordering on total collapse when Obama took office. Last quarter's economic growth was strong--the best in 6 years, so it's pretty clear that we've got things moving in the right direction. Job growth always lags in a recovery so folks are still hurting and that's reflected in the poll numbers. That doesn't make Obama wrong--it just shows that people are unrealistic.

Good leaders lead--they don't manage by opinion poll. And people who think independently look at the facts as they are and form their own opinions rather than just reading poll numbers and assuming the folks who responded to the poll actually had a clue.

Hey CC you'd better do something about drivl's obsession with pedophilia. He's madly preoccupied with having sex with prepubescent children and posts about it all day. Matter of time before this blog is subpoenad by the Feds.

Interesting strategy by Tim Pawlenty. We'll see how it works out for him.

On the one hand, this strikes me as part of what I suspect will be a continuing effort on the part of Republicans to distance themselves from President Bush. A lot of the base and Tea Party crowd are sort of opposed to anyone and everyone who is currently or was recently in government, and although that crowd doesn't tend to mention Bush by name, they've made it pretty clear that they don't appreciate some of the things he did. Of course, Pawlenty's a two-term governor of Minnesota, so he's not exactly new on the scene, but most people don't pay attention to the other states unless they absolutely have to, so he might be able to ride that one out. This is something I kind of expected the eventual 2008 Republican nominee, whoever it was, to do. But John McCain didn't do it -- in fact, he seemed to embrace the Bush philosophy of Republicanism rather than keep a comfortable distance -- and the Democrats had an easy time painting him as the second coming of Bush, something no one really wanted.

But Pawlenty's taking a shot at Bush and the GOP under him does carry a few risks. Firstly, in order for this tactic to be successful, he's going to have to get a big chunk of the Republican base to admit, yeah, we like that the terrorists didn't score any points after that big first one under Bush, but he did sort of screw us on the economy. And if they can bring themselves to admit that Bush screwed the pooch on the economy, that means they're going to have to acknowledge that not all of our current economic woes can be blamed on President Obama -- and if the economy actually manages a decent rebound under Obama, that could potentially make the Democrat look better than the Republican before him. That'll leave Pawlenty (or whoever) with the unenviable task of convincing the easily confused electorate that he won't goof things up like the last Republican who said he wouldn't goof things up goofed things up.

Plus, as Chris noted, Bush had some incredibly talented campaign support. The Tea Party crowd is in vogue now, but the party's big heavies -- the folks who got Bush elected and are probably still loyal to him in some regard -- are the ones who know how to win elections. A big part of the Tea Party line right now is, "Hey, we're sick and tired of all the decisions being made by people who know what they're doing! We need more uninformed people in Washington!" and although that message seems to appeal to people now, they're going to need a lot of organization to get it out there and sticking to the point where it will make a difference at the voting booth. Eventually, they'll need the kind of organization Bush had (and the Democrats have), and if they go too far and tick off the Bush crowd, that could spell trouble.

Precise measurements of sea level from Mediterranean caves have revealed that about 81,000 years ago the seas stood much higher than previously thought — even higher than today's levels. The finding may force scientists to reconsider how Earth's large ice sheets wax and wane in response to changing climate. Changes in global sea level are used to trace the fluctuations of ice sheets. As ice sheets advanced from a low-point around 125,000 years ago to a maximum around 20,000 years ago, sea level fell — although there was plenty of variation along the way.

Wow, messiah did get the oceans to stop rising. How will chris Mathews attribute this to him?

I am also fairly impressed with his ability to stop global warming dead in its tracks and produce this snow storm.

I suspect that tomorrow or the next day, the Iranians will simply throw up their hands and admit their failure and succomb to the charms of The One.

I was, and am, a huge George W. Bush fan. Except for his last few months in office where he let the Democratic Congressional Majority sway him from his fiscal principles, I think he did a great job as President...certainly much better than the clown who took his place.

Posted by: JCM-51 | February 12, 2010 3:07 PM

I am curious JCM, but what about W did you think changed late? He cut taxes and started running deficits right away. He passed a stimulus package first year. He went to war without paying for it next year. Another war without paying for it the third year. Passed a massive drug benefit for seniors without paying for it about that time, too.

Pawlenty is right to distance himself from George W Bush, who was literally annointed to be the republican nominee the first time despite rumors that he was "dumb," because he was electable. He would brand himself as a "compassionate conservative" and would be a shoo-in. The republican party is paying for their short-sightnedness. I always voted republican until Bush ran; I have voted third-party since.

Looks like President Obama’s anti-glamour is spreading. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., states: “He says ‘I’m for clean coal,’ and then he says it in his speeches, but he doesn’t say it in here. And he doesn’t say it in the minds of my own people. And he’s beginning to not be believable to me.”

Barry should get another dog, soon to be his only friend. If he starts now, he could decide before the next election.

I am a liberal from Minnesota, and I don't believe Tim Pawlenty has been part of the solution. He, like the some members in the DFL Leadership, are part of the problem. I am not convinced he would be a great President because of his record as Governor. At the same time, Republicans should listen to what he has to say. Unlike Sarah Palin, Pawlenty doesn't sound like an idiot when he's appealing to "Sam's Club Republicans." He also has the ability to offer some reasonable ideas if he puts his mind to it.

"Pawlenty's Esquire interview is the latest sign of the frenetic level of activity surrounding the low-profile governor as he seeks to get better known on the national stage."

What with the months and months of free pub here for this guy? No one at ground zero is talking about him as a contender. Maybe he thinks trashing his own party is a way to get attention but it seems a tad desperate.

When it comes down to Pawlenty needing the hard core right-wing base, he will go crawling to Lord Cheney like McCain did to sell out to Rovian thugs running his campaign again and saddling him with something more ridiculous or worse than Annie Oakley of the North as his running mate.

The Republican party has too many extremists to function normally. With revered seniors like Pat Robinson and Dick Chaney, loose canons like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, and Media hound Sarah Paylin posed at the podiums , ready to rally the extremists . Then up pops the so called tea party which is a collection of rabble rousers with no game plan just out to stir up the lynch mob.Well Pawlenty is at least recognizing what the problems are with his party. Doesn't look good for his kind of Republican though. Even Scott Brown of Mass used the tea party to do his dirty work in his campaign. If the people of Mass didn't dislike the Govenor Deval so much then Brown wouldn,t have stood a chance but unfortunately too many people can't see the diference in local and national politics.

My goodness, Republicans are a mess.
Are they stealing the TEA thunder, or are they beholden to it? Is their platform to be developed by the vapid Pawlenty (his MN speech, referenced this morning, was a relentless repetition of Republican canards and cliches), or the proud-to-be-ignorant Sarah Palin? Many R voters long for a return to Bush Cheney and yet R candidates see the need to disavow Bush Cheney...or face certain defeat. Michael Steele is he the RNC's version of a practical joke.

It is a very difficult order, but it is ever so simple. All the Democrats have to do is show the job picture steadily improving at the same time the deficit is steadily shrinking two years from now and the Republicans will spend four more years trying to figure out who they are.

It is a challenge for any republican to run for president when republican policies help damage the economy. They wanted tax cuts and deregulation, and they got them. The funny part is that their solution is further tax cuts and further deregulation. I don't see how any of them can run without a different economic policy.

I was, and am, a huge George W. Bush fan. Except for his last few months in office where he let the Democratic Congressional Majority sway him from his fiscal principles, I think he did a great job as President...certainly much better than the clown who took his place.

"Is Minnesota allowed to run a deficit? I thought all states had to be neutral."

Correct, no deficits allowed. BUT there are plenty of accounting gimmicks available to creative budgeters - of which Pawlenty is one.

During his two terms, he has had ample opportunity to address the systemic imbalance between state revenue & state spending. Thus far, he has failed to do so. He 'fixed' the current budget with a creative interpretation of a law that allows the governor to 'unallot' when there are budget shortfalls; his interpretation is undergoing court challenge - briefings have been filed this week in SCOMN.

NAFTA, which began the transfer of our manufacturing base out of our country, began with Reagan and Clinton. George Bush II compounded the problem with two wars and tax decreases for the rich, and Obama continues with inexperienced mistakes and manipulation by advisors who seem to almost dislike this country. I don't think these men are evil, but they have not been good leaders and we're suffering. Pawlenty has no answers either. We need a leader to emerge before something happens internationally. The next election is crucial.

Both houses are broken. This country is so busy placating non-producing citizens it's appalling. What ever happened to the land of opportunity? It became the land of entitlement.
It is high time to pull in the reins, cancel many of the entitlement programs, identify and harshly punish fraud and abuse and threats.
The AFL-CIO basically threatened the president yesterday with the 2010 elections because they don't have card check yet. Their pick for the LURB was stopped in his radical left wing tracks and they are not pleased.
We'll see if OHB has the courage to allow the Senate to be the balancing piece they were designed to be.
It's not the taxes, it's the spending. We, as citizens, must take control and turn back the crank.

Republicans are a natural opposition. Their ideology is focused on preventing the government from doing things to the individual rather than what the government can/should do for you. The best and brightest with this philosophy will not naturally gravitate towards positions in government. When you come into government without great plans and aspirations for what you can do with power, the possession of power can degenerate into the displacement of private affects on public objects...in short, corruption (sometimes but not necessarily in the sense of illegal activity).

Pawlenty is an earnest enough dipstick and might even make a good chief executive. But these days a presidential candidate needs to be a rock star and this guy is definitely charisma-deprived. Truth be told, the GOP doesn't have a would-be Messiah on the horizon to go up against Obama in 2012.

"I didn't agree with President George W. Bush on a few things, but overall he did an exellent job, and by far a better job than that incompetent Communist we now have in the WH, that has screwed up our economy big time with his re-distribution of all wealth agenda,"

See, Pawlenty might have trouble with the "we screwed up" line because he's going to need people like this to vote for him. The Republican base genuinely believes Bush was a great President. Bush bashing won't get him far.

Of course, if he can limit the blame to vague scandals and corruption, that would help.

so much for it being a big year for repugs-- people still remember who created the toxic waste in DC::

"(CNN) - More than a year after President George W. Bush left office, more Americans continue to blame his administration over any other entity for the nation's economic woes, according to a new poll.

In a New York Times/CBS News survey out Friday, 31 percent of Americans said the Bush administration is at fault for the current state of the economy while only 7 percent pointed their finger at President Obama and his team.

An additional 23 percent said the fault lies with Wall Street institutions while 13 percent assign the blame to Congress. Nearly 10 percent said the blame lies with all of them."

Well PawPaw, we lost because we spent like drunken democrats and denied our conservative roots. PawPaw is barking up the McCain tree and we won't be going there again. Minnesota, the California of the Midwest.

Is this the same GOP governor who held the senate seat hostage for a very long time? Pawlenty is pleasant enough. However, he is no match for President Obama. In fact, the Republicans have no one that can match Obama's oratory, much less his intellect. You might say that Republicans are "all fired up" for no sound reasons. Tbey seem to be very passionate about their guns and religion, but this is the extent of it.

People indicate that they want to see more bipartisanship, yet the polls indicate a very partisan pattern. Obama is still hanging is there with almost his election percentage.

For a party to try to slam Obama for increased debt when that same party presided over a doubling of the debt funded by tax cuts and two wars is the height of hypocrisy.

George Bush ia a LIBERAL??? BWAHAHAHAHA! Thanks for the laugh!
If the Repubs go any more to the right, they are going to run out of room. The conservatives in this country make Conservatives in other countries look like a bunch a radicall left wingers.
My God, don't you people realize that this country is conservative enough???

I would like someone like Enzi of Wyoming to run. He is not a greedy, sleazy lawyer that has moved up the ranks to become a even greedier, sleazier politician.

Enzi's degree is in accounting and he was a small business owner. Someone with a background that America needs right now.

He and his wife are not part of the hob-nob society, not from Chicago, California, or the neon lights of Nevada. They aren't your "pretty" plastic people, but more like the neighbors down the street. He, like his state, might be the breath of fresh, clean air so badly needed to clear the stench of the Hill.

I don't know how many more people can run for the Presidency on the GOP ticket and declare themselves "the outsider who is going to fix it all." I'm waiting for Boehner and Demint to declare their candidacy. Is Gingrich also working that bone? (that's a voodoo reference, not something smutty).

If only their ideas weren't a litany of the tired promises that put us in this mess.

I didn't agree with President George W. Bush on a few things, but overall he did an exellent job, and by far a better job than that incompetent Communist we now have in the WH, that has screwed up our economy big time with his re-distribution of all wealth agenda, straight out of Karl Marx's book "The Communist Manefesto", and Saul Alinski's "Rules for Radicals".

Pawlenty though is right about the Republicans in congress not being up to par governing the country. Their problem was that they tried to govern like Republican progressives (Democrap Socialist--lite), and not like conservative Republicans in the Ronald Reagan-mold. We always lose when we try to imitate America's new Communist Party, AKA the Democrap Party, and when we don't stick to our principals and committment to preserve our Representative Republican form of government as our founding fathers envisioned. These Republican progressives tried to govern our country like Democrap Socialists when they controlled congress and lost--surprise, surprise. Then they nominated and ran one of their own, John McCain, who also lost--surprise, surprise.
I don't know if Pawlenty is a real conservative Republican or is just another progressive Republican (Democrap Socialist--lite), who'se now just trying to position himself one to get our votes, but I hope the Republicans have learned their lesson running these McCain--type mavericks, alleged middle--of--the--roaders, and Democrap Socialist Party--controlled Main Stream Media--approved Republicans, that always lose elections.

President Bush was hardly a conservative. He was quite liberal and that is what is being objected to within the Republican party and those like me who were once Republicans before the party's abrupt shift to the left in the late 90s. President Bush in his last term strayed farther and farther to the left. Many other Republicans shifted to the left for political reasons betraying the parties basic principles. It is now the task of those who espouse the basic tenants of small government and lower taxes to make themselves heard.

annie, this is the only topic that the lunatic dribbl is qualified to discuss. She has a long history of ranting and raving, most likely under the influence of either heavy meds or psychological imbalance. either way, she is way more experienced than anyone else on this blog.

but back here on earth, she accuses anyone and everyone of being almost as crazy as she.

"The GOP 'blew it' when they had a chance to govern the country," according to Pawlenty. Eight years of control of the White House and six years of control of Congress was a chance? They were in total control, meaning they were supposed to govern. How long did they need, a century?? What will happen next time they have a "chance"?

Comments about Mr. Obama fleeing the country show that America is in a state of unrest - my concern with Mr. Obama relates to his robotic actions prior to, during his first year administration and now it appears we're truly dealing with a man who is owned and handled by others.

It would seem that Mr. Obama is not only out of control, but under the control of extremely dangerous people.

My question is this - how do we remove him from office or ask him to step down. Next question is this - do we really want Mr. Biden messing with our Nation?

Comments about Mr. Obama fleeing the country show that America is in a state of unrest - my concern with Mr. Obama relates to his robotic actions prior to, during his first year administration and now it appears we're truly dealing with a man who is owned and handled by others.

It would seem that Mr. Obama is not only out of control, but under the control of extremely dangerous people.

My question is this - how do we remove him from office or ask him to step down. Next question is this - do we really want Mr. Biden messing with our Nation?

I think that's his point - he wants to be viewed as the guy who is going to fix the GOP.

Here in Minnesota, though, he's done pretty much the same thing as the Bush administration: cut taxes without cutting spending. He's been able to make up the deficit, so far, with one-time budget fixes (like using the Big Tobacco settlement) and accounting shifts (they deferred some of the 2009 school money to 2010 - putting the burden on school districts to borrow (for which they haven't budgetted) to cover the shortfall between last year & projected payments this year).

In other words, Gov Pawlenty wants to have it both ways. He wants to call the prior admin a bunch of RINOs (albeit not explicitly so as to avoid alienating their supporters), while ignoring his own inability to cut the services that constituents expect from government.

Just this week the Gov proposed to burnish his 'tough on crime' credentials by effectively doubling the sentencing guidlines for sex offenders. Like, who's going to oppose locking up a bunch of rapists, right? The problem is incarcerating people costs money. Minnesota is already projecting multi-billion dollar budget deficits for the foreseeable future. But did Gov Pawlenty find a funding source for his "look at me being tough on crime" program? No. Just another RINO, if you ask me.

This is interesting. I had wondered when a nationally prominent Republican would take the first step in the thousand-mile journey toward separating the GOP label from the Bush administration's politically toxic record.

Other Republican "names" have either dodged this subject (Romney, Huckabee), continued to repeat slight variations of Bush administration talking points on key issues (Palin), or thrown out bogus "confessions" -- statements to the effect that Republicans weren't "tough enough on spending," when the record is clear that they didn't start caring about spending until "their" Republican President left the White House.

If this account of Gov. Pawlenty's interview is accurate, he's probably in for a rough time, both from associates of Bush and Cheney and from Congressional Republicans. I hope he's up for it.

Pawlenty is a weasel if he can say this to Esquire magazine but not on national television. Yes, gopers were fired for a reason. Now they don't want the person who was elected by a majority to govern. They are still spouting that their policies were best for the country -- evidence say otherwise. There was a financial crisis, huge debt and deficit due to unfunded wars and Medicare part D, lost revenue due to massive tax cuts, etc.

Let his shut his trap because his party affiliates are living in their version of reality.

"In the upcoming issue of Esquire magazine, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) offers a harsh rebuke of his own party's actions in recent years, arguing that the GOP "blew it" when they had the chance to govern the country."

Well, he's right -- but since nothing has changed and they are still talking and walking the same old sh*t, why would anyone vote for them? Even they agree they were awful.